College edition Spring 1 2011

Edito Letter From The Editor

Ultimate Athlete Magazine

Letter from the Editor

Well, we made it. We survived the long, cold and overall brutal gauntlet of winter and are now entering the warmer months of spring. While most of us were shoveling through epic snow storms to uncover our cars and trying desperately to stay warm, the area’s colleges were providing relief in the form of winter sports action that offered a welcomed reprieve from the weather.

We witnessed a fantastic collegiate winter season that saw the UConn men’s basketball team destroy Butler (and most people’s brackets) to take home the national title, a senior at Hofstra revive its fan base during a legendary final season and a Manhattan College center defy a rare disability to prove his critics wrong.

Now, the fields have thawed out and college athletes are moving from the hardwood to the turf. In this issue, Ultimate Athlete Magazine wraps up our coverage of winter sports and takes our focus to the great outdoors, where we explore the storylines in this year’s young spring season.

We will go inside the great expectations of the area’s lacrosse powerhouses at Hofstra, Adelphi, Stony Brook and C.W. Post and analyze St. John’s incredible statement win at the Big City Classic. We will also drop-in to take a look at the progress of the St. John’s, UConn and Dowling baseball teams, which are all aiming for a conference crown.

I hope you’ll join us for an unforgettable spring season where UA will bring you in-depth feature coverage and the vivid, eyepopping images we are known for.

All the best, Sincerely, Mike Browning College Sports Editor

PUBLISHER/CEO

Paul Corace N.J. Comanzo

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR COLLEGE SPORTS EDITOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENTS

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

MARKETING DIRECTOR DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Jeyathas Ponnuthurai Mike Browning Jessica Peters Nadine O’Farrell Kaitie Monda Adriana Kijko Dion Tulloch Richard Brooks

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ken Ryan Luis Gronda Dr. Tom Ferraro Wesley Sykes Robert Brooks Gene Morris Ben Rosenthal Ed Krinsky

Mike Browning Joe Pietaro Mike Meija Jerry Del Priore

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Morgan Harrison Adil Borluca OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY OF

Hofstra Athletics Manhattan Athletics Uconn Athletics C.W. Post Athletics Long Island University Athletics Morgan Harrison Jeyathas Ponnuthurai

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY COVER ARTWORT

How To Contact Us Phone: 1-800-680-3213

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ultimateathletemagazine.com ultimate Ultimate Athlete Magazine (ISSN 1931-5295) is published 12 times a year by Ultimate Athlete, Inc., 40 Woodbine Avenue, Northport, New York 11768. All contents copyright 2009

by Ultimate Athlete, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in whole or part of the content without the prior written consent of Ultimate Athlete, Inc. is strictly prohibited. All logos and trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Although the writers and the publisher have exhaustively researched all sources to ensure the accuracy and the completeness of the information contained in this publication, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. The opinions expressed in all materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Ultimate Athlete, Inc or Long Island’s Ultimate Athlete Magazine.

SPRING 2011 Volume I

Conten

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Features Features

14 Adelphi

Women’s Lacrosse

20 C.W. Post Mens Lacrosse

26 Dowling

Mens Baseball

32 Manhattan Mens Basketball

36 St. John’s Mens Baseball

40 Empire Challenge 2011 Game Announcement

42 NYIT

Mens Lacrosse

48 Stony Brook Mens Lacrosse

52 Sports Psychology Pep Talks

56 Pro Corner NY Knicks

60 Hofstra

Mens Basketball

66 Hofstra

Mens Lacrosse

70 Long Island University Track

74 St. John’s University Mens Lacrosse

80 UCONN

Mens Baseball

86 UA Training Tools of the Trade

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Senior attackman Stephen Bentz of Hofstra University jumps past his opponent to make a pass toward the goal.

Photo by Morgan Harrison

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St. Johnʼs University attackman Kevin Cernuto battles up the field during an exciting win in the Big City Classic at the New Meadawlands.

Photo by Morgan Harrison

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For Adelphi lacrosse superstar Claire Petersen, it’s all about the team

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For arguably the best Division II lacrosse player in the country, Adelphi junior Claire Petersen’s rise to elite status has not gone the traditional way. Sure, she was an outstanding lacrosse player at Wantagh High School, but she was also a standout on the basketball court. And that is what she first pursued when she enrolled at Division III Catholic University. After playing in the school’s fall basketball league, she decided she wanted to play hoops. She made the varsity team, but played in only five games.

When the spring season rolled around, however, Petersen made another decision: she did not want to play lacrosse.

Around the same time, Petersen was making another decision: she wanted to switch majors from general studies to physical education. Since Catholic did not offer that as a major, she needed to transfer.”I knew I wanted to play lacrosse again, so I e-mailed Coach [Joe Spallina] during the summer,” she said. When Petersen played in high school, the Adelphi coach was the varsity girls’ coach at Rocky Point, so he was familiar with her.

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“This was an interesting stretch as a coach. I don’t think it had ever happened,” said Lavin, who previously served as UCLA’s head coach for seven years. “The mathematical probabilities have got to be one in a zillion. We’ve had to temper things with them and be mindful of that frustration. The concern was that our players realize this conference is really tough and you can lose five of six and not be playing bad basketball.”

With Adelphi coming off a national championship in 2009 and still loaded with talent, Petersen After the thrashing of Duke, St. John’s was said she was just looking to fit in. Fit in would able to follow-up with a home win vs. Big East ribe an understatement. Like a gathering storm, val, Rutgers. As of Feb. 7, St. John’s has an overall Petersen got stronger and stronger as the season record of 14-9 and is on pace to finish well ahead progressed and wound up leading the nation in of last season’s record of 17-16. One of the key scoring as the Panthers captured a second straight reasons for the Johnnies’ success this year has national crown. She recorded 10 points or more been the emergence of senior guard Dwight Harfive times, including 12 points (5 goals and 7 asdy. The 6-foot-2-inch Bronx native has improved sists) against St. Anselm. She finished the year in virtually every major statistical category. with 47 goals and 81 assists for 128 points. “She just got better and better and better,” Spallina said.

And that momentum has carried over to her junior year. Through 11 games, Petersen has an astonishing 103 points on 33 goals and 70 assists.

Her assists average of 6.29 per game (through 8 games) leads the nation by a more than two assists per game. Petersen is fueling an Adelphi offense that leads the country in scoring with an amazing 20.71 goals per contest.

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Through it all, as Petersen and her teammates work toward a three-peat, she remains modest. “My goal is to come to practice ready to work and improve every day and help make my teammates better so we reach our goal, which is to be undefeated and win another national championship,” she said.

The key to staying on top, she said, “is pushing each other to get better individually and as a team. The more competitive we are with each other, the better we get.”

Petersen said her greatest strength is taking care of the ball and making sure each offensive possession counts. She has done that better than anyone this year. She was named Adelphi Athlete of the Week in consecutive weeks earlier this season after setting two single-game school records and breaking her own marks for points and assists. In Adelphi’s 25-5 victory over Merrimack, she had a career high 14 points, including 10 assists, both single-game school records. The week before, in a win over

Dowling, Petersen broke two Adelphi single-game records for points and assists with tallied 12 points including nine assists. For her efforts she was named Northeast-10 Player of The Week.

Despite her gaudy numbers and individual awards and accomplishments, Petersen said it is all about Adelphi winning a third straight national title.

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ne of the keys to building a successful program in college athletics is to establish the belief that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. This model is not executed anywhere better than at C.W. Post, where the Pioneers are looking for an unprecedented third-straight Division II men’s lacrosse National Championship.

While many programs fade in and out of relevance with the coming and going of star recruits, C.W. Post is a perennial powerhouse by stockpiling players who will buy into the system developed by Head Coach John Jez, rather than ones best at simply putting the ball in the cage.

The fast and tenacious brand of defense the Pioneers play is Jez’s own signature and an identity that his defenders cherish. Jez projects a pronounced sense of pride while discussing his defensive unit, describing their strengths like an artist might his masterpiece. “The defense has been a real strength here for the last four years,” he said.

“They work well together and are willing to learn and play within the

system. The teamwork on that end has been unreal. Player for player we may have less talent, but they are great as a unit.”

Senior defender Eric Boyd, a veteran of Post’s last two championship runs, knows first hand what can be achieved when an entire unit puts emphasis on the team’s identity over their own individual style of play.

Jez, an assistant coach at Post for two years before supplanting coaching legend and Pioneers’ all-time leading scorer Tom Postel, had a plan in place when he took the helm and has stuck to it.

Jez said he learned from Postel’s work ethic and adopted his attention to detail to build up from the foundation the C.W. Post icon laid, while making a few tweaks that have since become his own stamp on the program.

Jez streamlined his coaching staff, but assigned each coach primary responsibilities on a specific side of the ball, which allows each unit to have access to a coach that is constantly, carefully evaluating their progress.

This attention to detail is evident in the quality defensive play of the Pioneers this season, which has at times supported an inconsistent offensive attack. “Our Strength this year has been the defense,” Jez said. “The offense hasn’t been producing that much lately, but the defense has been playing together well overall. Their strength is playing as a team rather than as individual talents.”

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“Our defense plays with a blue collar attitude and refuses to be outworked,” he said. “We also spend a lot of time watching film so we can play smart and that’s been the key to our success this year.”

The foundation for Jez’s system is his recruiting style, whereby he fills his roster with these dedicated athletes. When describing what he looks for in a player, Jez recites the prototype as concisely as if reciting his phone number. “We look for players with speed and desire to play,” he said. Ones that are ready to compete the whole time and are coachable. We don’t always have the most talented guys player for player, but we make up for that as a system. This allows the program to evolve with the type of players we get.”

Securing elite talent on Long Island is always a dubious endeavor, as there is never a guarantee that a targeted recruit will not take a scholarship at a division I power, which scour the depths Long Island’s high school talent each recruiting season.

This grim reality caused Jez to “amp up his recruiting,” by looking elsewhere for his core players, such as California, where he landed standout senior attackman Nick Coric, a stalwart on the Pioneers’ attackman corpse for the past three years.

With a roster stocked with handpicked players with a deep understanding of their roles on the team and a profound sense of pride in what it means to be a Pioneer, Jez’s boys are well on their way to making history this season.

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Freshman shortstop Andrew Abreyu of Dowling College drops down to make the tag as a C.W. Post player slides into second.

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Adelphi University senior attacker Alison Staudt dodges her apponent as she gets into position to make a shot an goal.

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Following a 2009-10 season that saw the Dowling baseball team go 19-24 overall and miss the conference playoffs for the first time since 1999, the Golden Lions came into 2011 with a renewed outlook, aiming to be among the best teams in the conference.

Head Coach Chris Celano said that he hopes last year’s challenges were a learning experience for this year’s returning players, who will be teaming up with 11 freshmen this season.

“I think having the ability to have experienced what we did last year will definitely help this year,” Celano said. “And hopefully, if we do get those bumps in the road, we’ll be able to recover because it’s not like we haven’t dealt with it before.”

Celano said many of the freshmen, who are still getting acquainted with the longer schedule of college baseball, will see playing time right away nonetheless.

Among these 11 freshmen are infielders Andrew Abreu and Ian Schneider, who have been starting at second and third base respectively.

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These freshmen will be relied on to step up due to the departure of some key players from last season, such as recent graduates Frank Intagliata and Daniel Pembroke, who both received first team allconference honors last season.

“I think it’ll be kind of a revolving door.” Celano said. “It may be three or four guys splitting it up all year long, and I think that’s not a bad thing because, again, it gives guys a rest even though their bat is still in the lineup somedays.”

Another key player that will be out of the lineup this season is standout sophomore infielder Sean Craig, who recently underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum. Last year, Craig posted a .341 batting average as a freshman, which ranked sixth in the conference. He also had a .488 slugging percentage and stole 19 bases as the Golden Lions’ primary designated hitter.

The Golden Lions have gotten off to a sluggish start this season.

After winning their first game of the year, they went on a 6-game losing streak that included two losses in a home-opening double header against the University of New Haven.

Craig played through the injury for most of last season while serving as the designated hitter, which allowed the team to have his bat in the lineup regardless of his inability to throw. However, at the beginning of this season, the shoulder was still bothering Craig, so the team doctors decided it would be best to have it surgically repaired.

After getting shutout in the first game 3-0, Dowling looked to turn around their fortunes and get their first win at home. However, they soon fell behind again as New Haven took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

Senior infielder Colin Barnathan replaced Craig as the designated hitter early in the season, but Celano plans to use that spot for whoever has the hot bat, or to give a player a half-game off.

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Showing resilience, Dowling slowly chipped away at the lead, scoring a run in each of the next three innings, which included sophomore catcher Danny Masiello swiping home on a double steal.

Dowling had a 6-4 lead until the top of the 6th, when New Haven scored two runs to level the game at 6. With the score still knotted at 6 in the top of the 9th, a New Haven sacrifice fly to center field gave New Haven a 7-6 lead that would secure the win and sweep the doubleheader.

Despite these early season struggles, senior shortstop Eddie Squeri remained optimistic. “We’re working hard off the field,” he said. “The results aren’t there yet but we’ll be there, you know, [I’m] not too worried about it.”

Senior outfielder Ralph Tufano expressed similar sentiment regarding the future. “Offensively, defensively and on the mound, by far the best team I’ve ever been a part of in my four years here,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time that we’ll all click, come together and soon we’ll be seeing wins.”

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Kevin Laue is a sophomore center for the Manhattan Jaspers men’s basketball team. This season, he is averaging five minutes per game and 1.1 points and one rebound. What is remarkable about achieving these numbers is the fact that he is literally doing it with one arm.

The seven-foot-tall Laue, originally from Pleasanton California, was born with a rare birth defect.

Due to a restriction of prenatal blood circulation, he was born with a left arm that ends at the elbow.

It was during delivery that the doctor had told Laue’s mother that her son’s umbilical chord was wrapped around his neck twice, pinning his left forearm between the cord and his neck. As a result, the circulation to his left arm had been totally cut-off.

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It comes as no surprise that an athlete who has reached the ranks of Division I college basketball with only one arm believes that his birth defect was more fortuitous than tragic. He said that if his arm hadn’t been between his neck and the umbilical cord, he might have been choked to death before he was even born.

Former major league pitcher Jim Abbott was an inspirational figure for Laue as a child. Abbott, who once pitched a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in 1993, was born without a right hand. After hearing of Laue’s story, Abbott, who works as a motivational speaker, met with Laue over the summer.

“But I think I surprised some people out there and I definitely surprised a few players that I’ve played against. It’s to my advantage in some aspects but there definitely are some challenges as well.”

Laue suffered a broken leg and missed most of his senior campaign, but decided to play a postgraduate season at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia during the 0809 year, hoping to impress college recruiters. While at Fork Union, Laue continued to improve his game, averaging ten points and five rebounds per game while mainly competing against Division I prospects.

“[Abbott] was my hero growing up and he proved to the world that it was possible to play sports with one hand. So it was always my motto growing up that if he could do it, I could do it too,” Laue said.

Refusing to ever wear a cumbersome prosthetic arm, Laue initially struggled to play youth basketball, missing the cut for his junior high basketball team. However, as he continued to develop the nearly seven foot tall frame that he has today, Laue began to make huge strides in his athletic career while attending Amador Valley High School in Northern California.

It was there that Laue learned how to handle a basketball with his large right hand and dunk it as well. As a junior, Laue played on the varsity basketball team, logging 23 minutes per game while averaging four points, five blocks, and six rebounds.

Dealing with his disability in high school was difficult for Laue because children can be very cruel to someone who is different, but there were times when Laue was able to use it to his advantage.

“Sometimes my opponents would think it was going to be an easy game because they’re just going to beat a one-handed kid,” Laue said.

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Although he performed well at Fork Union, there was still some doubt that Laue would ever get the opportunity to play college basketball.

“I’d have to say that it is the most frustrating thing when a scout would look at me as a one-handed player rather than a player who is helping the team out and making an impact on the game,” said Laue. “It seemed like no matter how well I played, I wasn’t good enough because I only have one hand. I went all the way from California to Virginia to pursue my dream, so it’s tough when the scouts would overlook me, but I just use it as extra motivation.”

Manhattan College Head Coach Barry Rohrssen knew that despite Laue’s production on the court, the recruitment of Laue would open the door to heavy criticism.

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Rohrssen ignored the whispers and has no regrets about the decision to add Laue to the program because he was confident Laue’s work ethic would inspire his other players.

“We take chances on kids who have poor academic histories, who have disciplinary problems both on the court and off the court,” Rohrssen said. “We give opportunities to players who sometimes don’t appreciate them, who take them for granted.

For all the right reasons, Kevin deserved this chance and he had made the most of this opportunity. He’s done everything right, so why shouldn’t he get a chance?”

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The St John’s baseball team continued its recent success with another winning season in 2010, posting a 43-20 overall record and winning a record sixth Big East tournament championship.

Although the Red Storm anticipate being serious contenders for another Big East title in 2011, Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer said that inconsistency has caused the team to start this season with a lackluster 5-7 record.

“We’re like the stock market,” said Blankmeyer, who is entering his 16th season as St John’s head coach. “Either we’re playing well or not playing well enough.”

The Johnnies started this season with a trying schedule, which included several road games against powerful ACC opponents such as Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

The team’s early results attested to Blankmeyer’s stock market comparison.

Final scores were far on both sides of the spectrum, with the Johnnies winning 14-1 and 13-3 over Minnesota and Georgia Tech respectively, but losing 13-0 to Georgia Tech and 8-1 to North Carolina.

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The team will need to be ready to bring intensity in every game once the grind of conference play begins, as teams such as Louisville, Connecticut and Pittsburgh are all considered serious threats to a Johnnies’ conference title repeat and will be circling St. John’s games on their calendars.

The Johnnies’ slow start in non-conference play leaves them a step behind these conference foes with little margin for error. These Big East rivals all fared better in their non-conference schedules and all finished ahead of the Johnnies in the standings last year. According to Blankmeyer, South Florida is another team they will need to keep a close eye on this season.

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Every successful team needs to have star players to carry them through slumps or plateaus in team production and St. John’s is no different. To repeat last year’s success, St John’s will need to rely on its experienced and proven players to carry them out of the early season slump.

Junior shortstop Joe Panik, who is projected to be a Major League draft selection, batted .374 with 18 doubles, 10 home runs and 53 RBI’s last season and must be a main catalysts for the Red Storm on offense and defense.

Sophomore pitcher Kyle Hansen will look to build off of his freshman season, which saw him attain an 8-3 record with a 3.71 ERA and 85 strikeouts. Pitching is a big part of any baseball team’s success and the six-footeight Hansen will have to repeat or exceed his performance as a freshman in order for the Red Storm to play deep into the spring.

Coach Blankmeyer and his staff have been working with the players to fix what each player is struggling with. “It’s all about confidence.” Blankmeyer said. “When you work with them, you will see results and when the results come, good things will happen.”

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2011 outback steakhouse

empire challenge The 16th annual Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge is once again fast approaching, relieving high school football fans of the lull in action they are forced to endure during the winter and spring months.

New York’s most anticipated high school football event, which features the finest coaches and players from Long Island and New York City, is poised to be the biggest Empire Challenge yet, with a record turnout of fans, sponsors and volunteers. The lineups that will take the field at James M. Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University have been selected and the coaching staffs have been assembled. The teams will soon be meeting for practice to become acquainted and prepare for the final game of their high schools careers.

Freeport legend Russ Cellan will once again take the helm for Long Island while Coach of the Year nominee Daniel Perez of Fort Hamilton will lead a powerful New York City team.

Cellan, the architect of Freeport’s powerhouse football program and perennial coach of the year candidate, heads a coaching staff comprised of Long Island’s best coaches. He will lead the team for the second-consecutive year after adding another Long Island Championship to Freeport’s ever-expanding trophy case in 2010.

Perez, who capped off a perfect 13-0 season by winning the PSAL championship with Fort Hamilton

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High School in his first year as head coach, has been honored with the position of Head Coach for the New York City all-stars.

On The field, the teams will feature the best talent New York high school football has to offer.

Long Island will be led by Mike Pellegrino, who was one of the most productive players in New York, dismantling defenses for 1,363 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns while racking up 111 tackles and nine sacks on defense for his Connetquot Thunderbirds.

Pellegrino’s prolific season earned him the Hanson award as Suffolk County’s best player. His athleticism earned him a lacrosse scholarship to Johns Hopkins next year.

New York City features Syracuse-bound Brandon Reddish of Fort Hamilton high school, who caught the game-winning touchdown in the PSAL championship game for head coach Daniel Perez. The explosive wide receiver’s 18 touchdowns and continuous highlight reel plays earned him Player of the Year honors and high expectations for his career with the Orange.

The highly competitive game will not only win bragging rights for one of the regions, but will also benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which fights cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease that affects thousands of Americans.

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Graduate student Chris Lubin, the Bears prized acquisition last summer, who played for Bucknell last season, has thus far made the most of his final year of collegiate lacrosse, scoring three goals in the opening game against Merrimack. The Syosset native, who is enjoying a post-college year of eligibility, has been described by Coach Bill Dunn as the “quarterback” of the Bears’ offense.

Lubin, a Syosset High School product, is no stranger to success. In his senior year at Syosset, Lubin was named captain of the varsity lacrosse team, named to the All-County team, named 2006 Nassau County Attackman of the Year and earned the title of high school All-American.

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But despite Lubin’s stellar performance, the fifth-ranked Bears ended up on the short end in an 11-8 loss to seventhranked Merrimack. Lubin also assisted on a goal by junior midfielder Joe Herman, who had two goals in the loss. Pre-season All-American selection senior attackman Ryan Amengual, sophomore midfielder A.P. Nist and junior midfielder Jason Smith scored a goal each for the Bears. Junior goal keeper Billy McGee had eleven saves.

NYIT attempted to put the season opener behind them as they traveled to Mercy College on March 2nd, but were defeated by the upstart program by a score of 16-11, making it Mercy’s first-ever win against a ranked opponent. The Bears fell to 0-2 while Mercy won its second straight game and remains undefeated in only its second season of intercollegiate lacrosse.

The game against NYIT was just the 17th in the school’s history.

The Mavericks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, but NYIT finished the quarter with three quick goals to take a 3-2 lead. A Jason Smith goal increased the lead to 4-2, but Mercy rallied with three straight goals. The first half ended with the teams tied at six. The lead changed hands several times in the second half before Mercy took control of the game in the final quarter.

Chris Lubin again made his presence felt, scoring three goals and adding an assist in a noble effort by the Bears.

Dropping their first two games will put a lot of pressure on the Bears in their quest for an East Coast Conference championship. Coach Dunn is seeking the Bears’ fifth NCAA Division II championship in the eighteen year history of the program and considers the 21 student athletes that were recruited for the 2011 season to be exceptionally talented in every position.

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Included on the roster are 16 freshmen and 5 transfers. In addition to Lubin, Coach Dunn is expecting another transfer, Joe Herman, to be a major contributor to the success of the Bears.

Herman was a two-time AllAmerican at Nassau Community College. He is a graduate of Seaford High School on Long Island, where he earned All-County honors in football and lacrosse and All-Conference honors in basketball.

The 2011 season has been billed as a “Bounce Back” season for the Bears. In 2010, the Bears finished with a 9-4 record (7-3 in the East Coast Conference). The evercompetitive East Coast Conference has been expanded with the addition of teams in Ohio (Lake Erie), West Virginia (Wheeling Jesuit),Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill) and Western Pennsylvania (Seton Hill), so the bears must dig deep and buckle down to salvage their championship hopes, a feat Dunn is confident his team can achieve.

While there was talk of adding a post-season conference tournament, the idea was rejected for both geographic and financial reasons, so the bears must make each and every game count.

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he 2011 season started with high expectations for Head Coach Rick Sowell’s Stony Brook Seawolves men’s lacrosse team. Coming off a season of unprecedented success for the program, the defending conference champs found themselves struggling early on in their encore season during non-conference play.

A season-opening loss to the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers was nothing to be disappointed about, as the Seawolves came within a goal of beating them for the second time in 10 months, but the team’s follow-up performances did not live up to these expectations.

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The Seawolves followed the Virginia defeat with three consecutive victories over Marist, Delaware and St. John’s, but dropped the next game 9-8 on the road at Towson, slipping them to 3-2. The next game against a powerful Cornell Big Red would have to be a bounceback game for the team to get back on track.

The Seawolves never really showed up, falling behind 5-1 after the first quarter, never really getting into the game. By the time the 17-9 beating ceased, the team was beginning to realize they needed to make improvements in their game to salvage their season.

numbers being down this year.

“You see what he can do when he does have the ball in the position to shoot. It’s been that way since he arrived over three years ago.”

To the relief of Seawolves fans, Crowley and McBride clicked once again in the America East opener against UMBC. Crowley found McBride for a goal just 28 seconds into the first quarter to set the tone.

Stony Brook jumped out to an 11-0 lead and won the game 16-5. McBride, who had 12 goals coming into the game, scored seven in his unstoppable performance.

On a positive note, senior midfielder and pre-season player of the year Kevin Crowley solidified himself in Hofstra history by becoming the program’s alltime leading scorer when he scored an unassisted goal in the fourth quarter.“ Hopefully that was rock bottom; we don’t want to go anywhere near there again,” Sowell said. “Cornell got after us pretty good. It was a low point, but true to the character of this team - we were down but we certainly weren’t out. ”The Cornell loss dropped Stony Brook to #15 in the United States Intercollegiate

Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll and #14 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll.

The team’s struggles coincided with the individual struggles of senior attackman and sniper Jordan McBride. McBride is Crowley’s partner in the Canadian duo that came to Stony Brook four years ago and have been lighting up scoreboards ever since.

“We’ve been trying to get him the ball, some of it’s been how teams are defending him, but some of it’s been us,” Sowell said on McBride’s

“I was personally going through a slump, McBride said.” In the end, coach knows what’s going on and we just have to be on the same page and follow the game plan and we’ll be fine.”

The Seawolves look like they’ll be more than fine at this point. Although the slow start has hurt their chances at gaining an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, the early-season struggles will all be forgotten with a strong run through conference play and a conference championship.

“We’re the defending champions and everyone is going to be gunning for us,” McBride said.

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Without a ranked opponent left on the schedule, the Seawolves will have to dominate the America East Conference and make sure they don’t stumble when the conference tournament comes around. The UMBC game was certainly a good start.

“It may raise an eyebrow,” Sowell said of how the lopsided game against UMBC will look to the rest of the conference. “Hopefully they think ‘oh here comes Stony Brook.’ But we can’t worry about how they look at us, we have to worry about what we’re doing and how we’re going about it, and feeling as though if we keep playing the way we’re capable we might be a tough team to beat down the stretch.”

If Crowley and McBride continue to click the way they have during this recent run, the Seawolves look like a strong contender to get back to the NCAA tournament in May by taking the America East crown.

“We’ve been practicing very well for a while now and more and more of it’s starting to show up on game day,” Sowell said. “At this point we’re excited about what’s going on and hopefully we can keep it going. We’re in for some battles the next four weeks.”

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T

The dictionary will define a pep talk as “a speech of exhortation meant to instill enthusiasm or bolster morale”. This rather dry definition doesn’t come close to explaining the importance, complexity or value of a good pre game pep talk. Every coach must face the challenge of presenting a clear motivational message that will focus, inspire and instill courage in their players who are about to enter battle.

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The most riveting pep talks in film are invariably about the game of football. Hands down the most inspiring is Al Pacino’s “inch by inch’ speech given in the Oliver Stone football film,” Any Given Sunday. Pacino is speaking to a team which has been divided by petty rivalries all season. He talks about healing and how crucial it is to fight for every inch. “Either we heal now as a team or we will die as individuals… I’ll tell you this it’s the guy who is willing to die whose gonna win that inch,” says Pacino. He ends the speech with the question, “What are you going to do?”

Another stand out moment in pre-game pep talks was Billy Bob Thornton’s “Perfect” speech in the film Friday Night Lights. This film is about big time high school football in Texas. In a state championship game the team is losing at half time and he gives a three minute speech for the ages. He says among other things, “to me being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there… it’s about you and your relationship to yourself, your teammates and your community.Being perfect is about being able to look your teammate in the eye and tell the truth about your effort. It’s about saying I did everything I could do for you and I could do nothing more. That’s being perfect. If you can do that you will live in this moment with a clear eye and with love in your heart.”

And it is not only in film that coaches give inspirational talks.

Bill Parcells is famous for giving his ‘boxing speech’ where he tells the story of the champion fighter who kept trying.

It is not just in football that players need some last minute guidance and inspiration. In fact, in every sport the athlete seeks and needs some secret and personal message that will give strength, direction and focus. Figure skaters turn to their coaches before going onto the ice to perform.

So do gymnasts and golfers and hockey players and tennis players.

This is so because in every sport the athlete must face real danger and the possibility of injury.

They must also face fierce competition and the possibility of loss and of shame. This is why it is so crucial to provide them with a message that they can hold onto and organize around as the game begins.

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And this is why the coach must be able to provide the team with a special and meaningful message. Virtually every athlete I work with as a sport psychologist expects and is given a pre-game and pre-shot routine which will contain both a strategy and a way to manage fear. And, we drill this mantra into their head either with hypnosis or with self talk so that it is the only thing they will think during the game. Every sport is different. Football players need something that is very different from a swimmer or a golfer but they all need something. Follow this template which may be a good guide as you develop your pep talk for your players.

Create an image which relates to the strategy you hope they will adhere to during the game. For each sport there will be a differing strategy. Swimmers use ‘easy speed’ as a mantra during the race, golfers use ‘target awareness’ during the swing. Each sport requires a different strategy.

The pep talk needs to also instill a sense of which emotion you want them to hold to.

Football players may need aggression, tennis players and batters may need anger control and distance runners need determination and pain control techniques.

The art of great coaching is to know the team and to give them an image that guides and supports them during competition. If done well the player will use this image to keep them focused and keep them calm. You will know it is working if they refer to it from time to time and if they perform better during the game. The coach’s job is multifaceted and knowing how to give a useful pep talk is good to know. It is one of the subtle elements in managing team chemistry. I hope this article is some help in your efforts to pep your team up and to keep them focused.

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PRO C Long Term Effect: Carmelo Anthony’s Acquisition Will Pay Off Down the Road

By Joe Pietaro New Yorkers are an impatient people. We always want a winner and want one now. That is certainly the case with the New York Knickerbockers, and that multiplied the minute that the news hit that Carmelo Anthony was packing his bags in Denver for Gotham.

Because the trade for the four-time All-Star forward had been on the back page of the tabloids for months before actually happening, it felt like the longest Christmas Eve of all time. Already playing well and in the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks now became a national story.

“At 26 years old, Carmelo is in the prime of his NBA career having already established himself as one of the game’s elite players and the opportunity to add him to our roster was one we could not pass up,” President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh said the day of the deal.

“I feel now we have a great frontcourt tandem in Amar’e (Stoudemire) and Carmelo and this is an exciting day for the New York Knicks and all (of) our fans. It’s extremely difficult to trade away players, but we feel like the team is in better position to win and have excellent players to build around for years to come.”

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O RNER “I believe he will really embrace the opportunity to

play back home in New York and help us continue our goal of building towards a championship.”

Leaving the Empire State in the three-team, 13-player trade were forwards Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Anthony Randolph, centers Timofey Mozgov and guard Raymond Felton, plus cash, a future first and two second round draft picks.

Besides Anthony, the main player coming here was guard Chauncey Billups, who is highly respected throughout the league and is a proven winner.

Although there was definitely some talent going to Denver and Minnesota, the Knicks organization did not look at any of the departed as being star material.

Good role players that performed admirably, but not anyone who would be a main cog on the road to the Knicks’ first championship since the Nixon administration. And that’s the ultimate goal. But don’t expect a second miracle overnight.

The first was the way Walsh was able to complete the roster turnaround from the ill-fated Isiah Thomas regime since inheriting a mess in April of 2008. Curry and his bloated contract (and body) was the last remnant from the woe-be-gone era. Not only did Walsh get under the always present salary cap, but was able to turn a team of overpaid underachievers into an exciting bunch led by two legitimate superstars, something not lost on head coach Mike D’Antoni.

“Carmelo is one of the top pure scorers in the

league like Amar’e,” he commented. “I believe he will really embrace the opportunity to play back home in New York and help us continue our goal of building towards a championship. Chauncey is a winner and having a veteran point guard of his caliber will be extremely valuable in helping us win games, especially in the playoffs.”

Those words are music to the fan’s ears, as they have waited an awfully long time to plunk down their hard-earned money for postseason seats at Madison Square Garden. In case you were wondering, the last time that happened was in the 200304 campaign, when the Knicks finished 39-43 and were ousted by the New Jersey Nets in a threegame playoff cameo.

But before we begin making plans for the traffic plan of the championship parade down the Canyon of Heroes, this team is very thin at a few positions.

They lack height in the middle and get controlled on the boards by most opponents. Their tallest player?

Both Stoudemire and Ronny Turiaf stand at 6’10” and weigh in the 250-pound range. Size matters in the NBA and Walsh needs to address the center spot in the offseason. Until then, the Knicks will not be able to contend with the seven-foot, 300-pound behemoths that paint the basketball landscape.

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PRO Point guard will need an upgrade, possibly later than sooner. Billups, 34, will in all likelihood be retained and should be. It is difficult to replace his intangibles, such as the ring he won in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons, a series in which he also won the MVP of the NBA Finals.

He also made the All-Star team five times and is an intelligent court general.

But the free agent class of 2012 may include two younger point guards who have reached stardom and are in their prime. Twenty-six year old Deron Williams was traded from the Utah Jazz to the Nets but can opt out of his current deal after the 2011-12 season. New Jersey is going to make a huge push to sign him to an extension before then and probably will be able to get it done.

Chris Paul is only 25 and will command a huge payday when his current contract with the New Orleans Hornets expires. He may have been looking into the future when he made a toast at Anthony’s midtown wedding reception in July of 2010 that he, Brooklyn native and Syracuse product Anthony and Stoudemire (who had recently signed with the team) should form their own “big three,” a reference to the Miami Heat’s trio of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

Well, two of the three are now here.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, there’s a lot of basketball to play between now and then. Playoff ball, for sure, but patience is a virtue when it escalates to championship caliber. Even in New York.

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HOFSTRA

asketball By

rian

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| Photos Courtesy of allweg and hofstra university

esley

ykes

railing by three points against an unsuspecting William & Mary basketball team, number 22 calmly waited at the top of the key for his moment to strike.

With 6.6 seconds remaining in regulation, Charles Jenkins got the ball and stroked the game-tying 3-pointer in the face of two Tribe defenders to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, this time with both teams knotted at 78 points apiece with 4.6 seconds left, he coyly crossed half-court before everso-slightly stepping into a 35-foot jumper that would seal an 81-78 victory for the Pride.

As the ball rattled through the cylinder and onto the hardwood, Jenkins was already running towards the boisterous Mack Arena student section, arms open, ready to embrace the roar of the crowd. This is just the latest exploit of his illustrious Hofstra Pride career

and why Charles is in charge at Hofstra University.

For Jenkins, carrying the weight of his team on his back is as easy as flicking his wrist when releasing a jump shot. Knocking down 35-foot game-winning shots should come rather easy for the all-time leading scorer in Hofstra history (2,482 points and counting) and the fifth best scorer in the nation (23.3 points per game), because after putting Hofstra athletics on his back and pulling the school’s athletics out of the depths of a dismal two-year stretch, why wouldn’t it be?

harles is in

harge

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Thanks to the budding national attention surrounding Hofstra’s best kept secret and his unifying bond with the student body through social media, basketball life has been breathed into a campus that has been gasping for some time now.

“It is always darkest just before the day dawneth.”

– Thomas Fuller (1650)

Before the day broke and shed light on Jenkins, Hofstra faced an ominous chapter in its athletics that saw a series of events that were a cause for serious concern for the student body.

September 8, 2008—After calling Hofstra home for 41 years, the New York Jets did not renew their contract to hold their practice facilities on campus.

December 3, 2009—University President Stuart Rabinowitz abruptly announces the termination of the football program, citing a general lack of interest and support from students and alumni.

March 25, 2010—Tom Pecora resigns as men’s head basketball coach after nine seasons with the Pride.

April 1, 2010—Hofstra hires Tim Welsh as new men’s head basketball coach.

April 28, 2010—Welsh is arrested and cited for DWI. May 2, 2010—Welsh resigns as head coach.

The student body was, for good reason, less than enthused--and Jenkins could tell.

“We went through a couple down years and a few people didn’t come out,” Jenkins said. “Right now, I think we’re back to where we used to be.

We got a good buzz regarding Hofstra sports, with lacrosse being great and softball being defending champions.”

Listening to the laid-back tone of Jenkins might lead you to believe that getting that positive buzz back came as easy to him as, say, his late-game heroics. However it would take a concerted effort by the entire men’s basketball team to restore faith to a community that felt betrayed by its athletics.

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“It was one of my top priorities to connect with the student body and interact with the university community,” first year head coach Mo Cassara said.

“There’s a lot to build on here, so I think all we can do is try to continue that. But as I say, success is always under construction.”

ULTIMATE ATHLETE MAGAZINE COLLEGE EDITION

In order to start rebuilding the Hofstra tradition, Coach Cassara, Jenkins and the rest of the men’s basketball team had to create an active relationship with the school and community. This meant players personally handing out tickets to students in the Student Center, which showed a dedication to creating that connection. In addition, Jenkins and the rest of the team are present for all of the other athletic teams’ events as well as other organizations’ proceedings.

“It’s very important [to be active on campus],” Jenkins said. “These are people who are taking time out of their day to come out and support us, so any opportunity to come out and return the favor, we’re all about it. These kids are supporting us when they could easily be studying for a midterm or writing a paper. It’s only right we do the same.”

But Jenkins and Coach Cassara didn’t stop at personally handing out tickets to students.

Thanks to the social media revelation, the two took to Twitter and Facebook to cement a level of authenticity to their public outreach.

“I think the student body buzz comes from our interactions with them on Facebook and Twitter and on campus,” Cassara Said. “I think when those things start to happen the campus can grab hold of that and relate to it. Once that connection has been made and they come over to the Mack Arena and see a great game, they’ll come back [for good].”

The fans certainly responded. With the team’s surprising success (19-10, 13-4 in CAA) and the early lack of national attention regarding the play of Jenkins, fans hit the Web to show their pride for the Pride. Hofstra hash tags that read #RollPride, a clever twist on the motto of the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide, began popping up on Twitter feeds throughout the Hempstead campus as it quickly became adopted as a unifying motto of Hofstra pride.

Simultaneously on Facebook, a group filled with “factual” information on the Hofstra guard surfaced. “Charles Jenkins Facts,” based off the popular Chuck Norris Facts, provided an open forum for fans to connect and share embellished “facts” about their star, who is quickly becoming a cult icon. According to posts in the group, Charles Jenkins needs only three chips to win at Connect

“

”

or Jenkins, carrying the weight of his team on his back as flicking his wrist when releasing a jump hot

Charles Jenkins 65 WWW.ULTIMATEATHLETEMAGAZINE.COM

Four while receiving two extra Chicken McNuggets in his 20piece value meal at McDonald’s.

By Saturday, February 26, 2011, you can add this one to the group: Charles Jenkins is so good that he has his number retired before he’s done wearing it. On Senior Night, his final game in the Mack Arena, Hofstra will honor their sports savior by lifting his number 22 jersey to the rafters in a conference game against Delaware.

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a Univer r t s rlesJenkin si f s o Cha

ty

H

And while a humble Jenkins will thank the fans for their support and admiration throughout his time at Hofstra, The Hofstra community is thankful for Jenkins bringing joy to a campus when it needed it the most. Coach Cassara summed it up best: “During transition, you need leaders.

Charles Jenkins has been that leader—in title and in spirit—not only for this basketball program, but this athletic community and university on so many levels.”

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HOFSTRA

MEN’S LACROSSE

By Wesley Sykes Photos By Morgan Harrison

S

Surely the members of the University of Denver lacrosse team miss Jamie Lincoln, their former star attackman and his hot stick. Luckily for the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team, Lincoln is now leading one of the most dangerous attacks in the nation for the Pride.

Lincoln, a senior attackman from St. Catherine’s, ON, Canada, tallied a season-high five goals, four of which came in the first half in a 15-9 home victory over Harvard on March 5th. Fellow senior attackman and Canadian product, Jay Card, enjoyed his best game of the season as well, posting three goals and three assists. The Canadian connection has posted 12 points each on the young season.

“They have a strong chemistry being two similar Canadian-style players,” said Head Coach Seth Tierny. “The Canadian game tries to move the ball back-and-forth in order to move the goalie, similar to hockey, so having one on either side is great to watch.”

The attention that the Canadian Imports demand allows the rest of the attack and midfield to roam freely, leading to more scoring options. “[They] make life easier,” sophomore midfielder Ian Braddish said of the two players. “[I] just throw it in and watch them score.”

Lincoln has scored ten points over the last two weeks (nine goals, one assist), claiming back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association’s Player of the Week awards. Since arriving at Hofstra two seasons ago, Lincoln has racked up 45 goals, while amassing 98 career goals including his stay at Denver.

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“When the first couple go it makes everything easier, but I got some good looks and a lot of great passes from my teammates,” Lincoln said on his latest five-goal game. Lincoln last scored five goals in a 14-6 victory over Johns Hopkins last season and scored a career-high six goals against Quinnipiac in 2009 while with Denver.

Card, a unanimous selection for pre-season Player of the Year for the CAA, enjoyed his first great game of the 2011 season after a slow start. After getting a variety of defensive looks, it was important for him to finally break out, but the extra attention being paid to Card has freed up space for Lincoln, Bentz and the midfielders, who have all been able to capitalize on the time and space it creates.

“You’re not going to have five-point games from everybody, but what we did have is about 9-11 points from our midfield,” said Tierny. “We need to have that kind of production continuing, where we can feed each other. Because of that scoring depth it allows the attack to get freed up and vice versa.”

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Despite coaching a high-powered, well-balanced offense that is also boasts a .629 winning percentage on face-offs, Tierney isn’t satisfied with everything he’s seen.

“We need cleaner possessions offensively,” Tierney said. “We’re trying to get real quality shots on every shot, every time we have the ball.”

So far that strategy has worked. Hofstra has scored 10 or more goals in three of their first four games on their way to a perfect 4-0 record. The win at home against Air Force on March 10th tied the mark for the best start in school history.

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LI U

Long IsLand UnIversIty

Written by Jerry Del Priore | Photos Courtesy of LIU

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“I feel like I have enough foot speed to run with anyone.

All I can do is keep pushing, and keep listening to my coaches and my parents and just go for it” ULTIMATE ATHLETE MAGAZINE COLLEGE EDITION

I

n the bustling area of Downtown Brooklyn, the Long Island University women’s and men’s track and field teams have been busy establishing a legacy of success.

In February, the women’s squad continued its dominance, edging Monmouth University 118-116, to capture its second straight indoor team title at the 2011 Northeast Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.

It was the Blackbirds’ sixth women’s indoor crown under head coach Simon Hodnett, who is in his eleventh year at LIU. They have also won an outdoor title during his tenure.

On the men’s side, LIU narrowly missed defending its own indoor title, finishing third in the overall standings, a mere six points behind champions Central Connecticut State.

Hodnett acknowledges that while the university lacks the space to train athletes in field disciplines such as pole vaulting and throwing, he believes his participants’ selfdetermination has compensated for the lack of amenities and helped produce a culture of winning.

“I want to try to inspire others to realize that even though we don’t have the facilities that some of the other university have, as long as we put in the work, the little bit that we have and the beliefs system that they actually have, that they can be just as successful as anybody else that’s out there training, he said.”

The 5-foot-4-inch speedster Jesse Gaines was a major contributor to the Lady Blackbirds’ victory. Though she competes against taller opponents with the distinct advantage of a longer stride, she doesn’t see her lack of height as a roadblock to success.

Actually, it’s been a non-factor. The junior dominated at the NEC championships, winning the 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles, triple jump and long jump. She also placed second in the 200-meter dash.

LI U

Gaines set meet records in the 60-meter hurdles (8.34), 60-meter dash (7.53) and triple jump (12.55m). For her spectacular efforts, the NEC awarded her with the Most Outstanding Track Performer, Most Outstanding Field Performer and Most Valuable Performer honors, which has been bestowed upon her for the third straight year.

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“I really don’t think about being shorter when I’m at a track meet,” said Gaines, who is majoring in Media Arts. “I feel like I have enough foot speed to run with anyone. All I can do is keep pushing, and keep listening to my coaches and my parents and just go for it.”

Senior Corryl Boyd continued his MVP season for the men’s sqaud, winning the long jump with a leap of 7.25 meters, while sophomore Brian Richards took second with a 7.13-meter lunge.

Boyd was also part of the 4x400-meter relay team that snatched gold with a time of 3:21.92.

Boyd is a powerhouse that has been the workhorse for his team all season, competing in up to five different individual pursuits as well as relays. After double shoulder surgery, Boyd said he’s finally one hundred percent healthy and ready to smoke the competition this outdoor season.

“If coach says do it, and I’m capable of doing it, he puts me in,” Boyd said. “So, it’s just a matter of what needs to get done. I strive on pushing myself to the limits at big meets where points are important team-wise. That’s where I usually do most of those events at the same time.”

When it comes to recruiting student-athletes, despite the lack of certain facilities, Hodnett has an advantage in LIU’s strong academic programs and industry connections as means to lure them to the university.

“First of all, a lot of the athletes that we recruit want to go into health science, so health science, journalism, pharmacy programs are really strong,” the Virginia native explained. “So, a lot of athletes we get because of the programs that we actually offer.”

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LI U

“The other big factor is with us being here in New York City, a lot of the professors that teach here at LIU are still working in their respective fields,” Hodnett said. “So, it’s actually easier for us to get our athletes internships versus some of the other universities.”

Hodnett believes the successful indoor campaign should carry over into the outdoor season for both squads, but he is more focused on making sure his team stays within themselves while putting forth a maximum effort.

we’re going to comeout successful, the former standout sprinter added. “We may not always win, but we’re going to give everything we have.”

Asked what have been key factors in LIU’s success, Hodnett replied: “My athletes. They work hard and they’re at the point now where they’re beginning to believe not only what’s happing with our program, but a lot more in themselves, because they’re seeing better results.”

“[Doing well] always gives us momentum,” he said. “But we just try to stay grounded as a group of individuals and go out and work hard each and every time. Regardless of whomever we’re competing against, our main goal is just to compete to our best our abilities.”

“As long as we know that we focused on ourselves, that we trained hard and that we compete within ourselves, then

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SJohn’s Lacrosse

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SJohns

Huge.

T

That’s the size of the 80,000-seat New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the site of this year’s Konica Minolta Big City Classic and the crowd of 25,115 fans that filled its seats to witness three of college lacrosse’s premier match-ups.

Huge.

That’s how big the rivalry is between the St. John’s University and Rutgers University lacrosse programs, which faced off in the event’s opening game.

Huge.

That’s how you can describe the 9-8 victory over the Scarlet Knights for the Johnnies’ budding young lacrosse program.

The Johnnies were well aware that sharing the field with four of Division I lacrosse’s perennial super powers in its biggest spectacle was a rare opportunity to show a national audience how far the program has come since its reinstatement in 2005.

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“We absolutely wanted to make a statement,” Head Coach Dan Miller said.

“To get on this stage and to share the stage with teams like Syracuse and Duke and Hopkins and Carolina, that’s awesome for our guys, that’s awesome for our program, it’s awesome for everybody that’s associated with St. John’s, so we absolutely wanted to make a statement today and I feel like we did.”

The exposure of one of college lacrosse’s biggest stages in both a figurative and literal sense gave substantial credibility to that statement.

The 25,115 lacrosse enthusiasts in attendance and a national television audience watching were invaluable to a program that must stake its claim to a portion of the area’s young talent.

A large contingent of the tri-state area’s youth lacrosse players was on hand to experience the celebration of the game they love and see some of America’s best players take the field. Appealing to these future collegiate players is necessary to establish a bastion of local talent which will support

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future recruiting efforts and strengthen the program year after year.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” said Miller. “We feel like we played good lacrosse and we get the opportunity to have people outside of our parents’ group and our alumni group and the people who always come support us, to have the opportunity to showcase ourselves to a wider audience and let people know that we’re playing good lacrosse at St. John’s. It’s a great opportunity and I feel like we cashed in today, I really do.”

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Story By: Diana Rodriguez Photos Courtesy of: Hofstra University

UConn hUskies

By Ben Rosenthal

Photos Courtesy of UConn Athletics

L

ast year, the UConn Huskies baseball team enjoyed the best season in the program’s history, with an impressive 48-16 record, which culminated in a hard-fought defeat in the NCAA Regionals to the Oregon Ducks at Dodd Stadium. Despite the 4-3 loss, the fact that the Huskies were able to host a game of that magnitude showed how stellar a season they really had.

To say expectations are high in 2011 is an understatement. Coach and team leader Jim Penders knows that this year’s squad has the potential to achieve even loftier results than last year.

“This year we are trying to get back to the NCAA Tournament, win the Big East and put ourselves in a position to contend for the National Championship,” Penders said.

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Great Expectations for

UConn Huskies

Baseball

People outside of the program may not associate “UConn Baseball” with “National Champions,” but that is something Penders is trying to change. When asked if he thought the Huskies would ever garner the same attention from the student body and the media as the basketball team and more recently, the football program, Penders was optimistic.

“I hope so. In our home playoff game against Oregon, we had an attendance of 6,000 people,” he said. “Interest in the sport is at an all-time high, and [the coaching staff] hopes to continue this momentum by doing our best job of recruiting the best athletes in and outside of the state of Connecticut.”

You can’t win if you don’t have the horses, and this year, UConn has a full stable.

Spearheaded by the play of junior outfielder George Springer, senior first baseman Mike Nemeth, junior pitcher Matt Barnes and junior infielder Nick Ahmed, the Huskies anticipate being in prime position to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. The team is stacked with major league talent, as Penders hopes to have nine players on this year’s roster drafted.

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uConn HUSKIES

huskies

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players not only better baseball players, but better people. Additionally, he strives to put his players in a position to win by doing his job to the best of his ability.

Lastly, and perhaps most telling, Penders believes an ultimate judgment can be made on whether or not his ideals have truly been adopted by his players based on how much they give back to their communities after graduating.

To hear a coach harp on things that have nothing to do with baseball is truly refreshing in today’s resultsoriented business. Amidst the recent controversies regarding college athletic programs, Penders continues to stay true to his philosophy of churning out good people and good baseball players.

Last season, the team set a personal record with 48 wins, had three players taken in the major league draft, went to the NCAA Tournament and nearly won the Big East tournament. With Penders at the helm and a solid core of players returning, there is no reason to think anything less will be achieved this season.

The respected baseball publication Baseball America, which gave UConn a pre-season ranking of No. 9, has taken notice of this year’s very capable team. With its solid hitting, incredible speed on the bases, strong defense and dominant pitching (Barnes routinely hits 97 MPH on the radar gun), there is every reason to believe that this year’s team will prove last year’s results were no fluke.

The team returns seven starters and nearly its entire pitching staff. With the valuable experience gained from last season’s historic run, anything less than a trip back to the NCAA Tournament will be a huge disappointment.

Despite all of the recent press and excitement regarding the baseball team’s resurgence, head coach Jim Penders is not letting the hype get to his players’ heads. He keeps them grounded with his “Be a good person first, then a great baseball player” coaching philosophy.

Despite his ambitions to win a national title, his primary goal is for all of his players to earn a degree. While many coaches may claim this is their top priority, then turn a blind eye to a player skipping classes or doing poorly academically, Penders truly believes education is of paramount importance and will not tolerate academic lethargy.

As cliché’ as it may sound, Penders wants to make his

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Tools of the Trade Five training aids that can take your workouts to new heights.

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Story By Mike Meija / / Photos By Morgan Harrison With scholastic sports becoming more and more competitive each year, young athletes are constantly looking for every possible advantage they can find in order to gain an edge over their competition. For many of you, this often means heading into the gym in an effort to increase size, strength and power. Yet, as beneficial as weight training can be, using an entirely gym-based approach to your workouts is not without its drawbacks.

Many tend to use either too much weight, or poor lifting technique; often without first having built a sound foundation of core strength, stability and mobility. Others simply can’t get to the gym on any kind of regular basis because of their hectic schedules. Thankfully though, there are some other options at your disposal.

The five workout tools you’re about to learn about just might change your entire mindset towards physical conditioning. They’re easy to use and range from the relatively inexpensive, to the ridiculously cheap. Each of them also carries with it the dual benefit of allowing you to work out in the comfort of your own home, while helping build the kind of functional fitness you need to avoid injury on the playing field. And the best part is, they’re suitable for athletes of all ages and fitness levels.

So, whether you use just one at a time, or combine all five for the ultimate at home workout, you’re bound to notice an improvement in your game.

The BOSU An acronym for BOth Sides Usable, the name given to this odd looking device fits it to a tee. A great way to improve balance, coordination and core strength, the BOSU has plenty of application to athletic training. With the blue side up, you can use it for core stabilization drills like planks and bird dogs, as well as single leg balances and even squats to help improve ankle, knee and hip stability. Black side up, it’s a great way to take drills like push-ups (pictured) to an entirely new level, or stand on it and try doing various types of medicine ball throws from an unstable surface. Whatever you decide to do with it, the BOSU is a great way to add some fun and variety to your workouts. Although they are available in most sporting goods stores, check out the website at www.bosu.com for more great exercise ideas.

Push-up (Black side up) With the blue side down, place the BOSU about a foot or so in front of you and get into the top position of a push-up, by grabbing the sides of the platform (by the handles) and propping up on the balls of your feet. Once there, maintain a neutral spine position (no excessive arching of the lower back, but no rounding either) as you slowly lower yourself towards the platform. Once your chest is slightly lower than your elbows, pause for a second and press back up. Be sure to maintain a neutral spine and try your best to keep the BOSU from wobbling. Try 8-12 repetitions.

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The TRX Suspension Trainer

This brainchild of a former Navy Seal is one of the hottest and most versatile training tools to hit the market in years. All you need is a sturdy overhead object to anchor it from, like a chinning bar, or a tree limb if you’re outdoors. You even have the option of purchasing a special attachment that will allow you to use it with any standard sized door. Besides the obvious convenience it offers, the best feature of the TRX is that anyone from a complete beginner to an elite level athlete can get a great workout with it. By simply altering your body’s position, or changing the length of the straps you can adjust the difficulty level of a given exercise to suit your specific needs. You can also do many of the exercises using just one limb at a time, which is a great way to improve balance, stability and coordination.

One of the things I like best about the TRX is that it’s a safe and effective ways for kids to be introduced to strength training. Instead of using external loading in the form of free weights,

machines, or medicine balls, with the TRX it’s all about moving your own body weight. So, you can learn proper execution of an exercise with a little less resistance and then simply change your body position to make it infinitely more difficult once you get the form down. Not only does this cut down on the intimidation factor some kids experience when first exposed to weight training, but it also makes it easy to go from one exercise to the next to increase the conditioning effect of your workout. There’s no waiting around for someone to finish using a particular piece of equipment, with the TRX you can easily go from a rowing movement, into a one legged squat and then right into any number of challenging core drills. This enables you to get a full-body, functional workout in a fraction of the time it would take you at the gym. You can check out more drills and find out how to get your own unit by visiting the company’s website at www.fitnessanywhere.com.

TRX One Leg Squat

Hold the TRX the same way you would as if doing the row, only this time place your feet a little bit further away from the anchoring point, so that your body is more upright. Keeping your arms straight and torso as upright as possible, lift your left leg up a few inches off the ground and hold it out in front of you, as you sit your hips back and begin to squat with your right. Continue lowering until your right thigh is parallel to the ground, and your left is held out straight in front of you, about a foot off the ground. Pause for a second and then avoid pulling with your arms (just use them to help balance), as you push back up to the starting position. Continue on the same leg until you’ve completed 10-12 repetitions and then switch legs.

TRX Row After securing your TRX to a sturdy, overhead object grab the handles and walk your feet forward a bit (note: the further forward you place your feet, the harder the exercise will be). Next, lean back so that your feet remain in contact with the floor and your arms are straight so that you’re giving your weight to the TRX. From there, pinch your shoulder blades together and down to initiate the movement and pull yourself up until your hands are even with the outside of your chest and your elbows are slightly past your torso.

Hold for a second and then lower and repeat until you’ve completed 10-12 repetitions.

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Resistance Bands

These brightly colored bands that you often see used in physical therapy clinics and group exercises classes are becoming increasingly popular with athletes. Besides being relatively easy to use, resistance bands offer several distinct advantages over other types of equipment.

For starters, they allow you to do most exercises in a standing position, which requires your legs and core to work harder to stabilize your position- just as they would during various athletic movements like hitting a tennis ball, or blocking an opponent. They also make it much easier to vary your training speeds. Remember, few of the movements you make out on the field will take place at slow speeds, so it’s nice to be able to apply a little more speed to an exercise, without the associated risks of doing it with free weights.

Resistance bands also keep your muscles under constant tension during the entire range of motion, which really increases the difficulty level of the exercises and can also help cut down on your training volume (number of exercises and sets) so that you can still get a good workout. This is an important consideration during key points during the season where you need to maintain strength, but don’t want to run the risk of overtraining. Available in most sporting goods stores, resistance bands also come in a variety of different difficulty levels, making them suitable for just about anyone to use.

Band Rotations Hook a resistance band up around a sturdy object like a bannister, or the support pole of a basketball hoop. Grab the handle and walk away from the support until you have a moderate amount of tension on the band. Next, position your body so that you’re standing aside the support, with your right shoulder closer to it and the left further away. Grab the handle with your left hand first and then your right hand on top of it. With your feet positioned about shoulder’s

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width apart, knees slightly bent and both arms across the front of your body, begin by bracing your core and bringing the bands all the way around in wide, arcing motion (like swinging a baseball bat). In the finished position, the band should be stretched tight across your body, with your arms almost completely straight and your hips slightly rotated. Control the weight back to the staring position until you’ve done 8-10 repetitions and switch sides.

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Mini Bands

Easily one of the most harmless looking training aids you’ll ever come across, these little colored bands will have you begging for mercy before too long. That’s because they help target some of the most underused, but important muscles in terms of athletic performance- namely the lateral glutes, adductors and hip extensors. Loop them around your lower legs, just above the ankle, and try a lateral band walk to develop glute strength for improved knee stability. Or, balance on one leg as you take your other leg out away from and then across your body. Not only will this increase strength in your abductor and adductor muscles on the working leg, but the other side will be working like crazy to stabilize your position. These little devils can also be positioned higher up your legs (just above the knees) to make

squats even more effective (pictured). This is an especially great drill for female athletes, as knees that pinch inwards, which is usually indicative of weak lateral glutes and hamstrings, can be a contributing factor to a variety of injuries. Forcing the lateral glutes to work harder by pushing against the band during the squat is great way to help correct this problem.

Like the resistance bands featured above these also come in a variety of tension levels and can be found in some sporting goods stores. In my experience though, I’ve found the best quality bands to be the ones that are available through www. performbetter.com. They come in four different resistances and are extremely durable.

Mini Band Squat Position a mini band just above your knees and stand with your feet about shoulder’s width apart and toes pointed straight ahead. Begin by sitting your hips back and keeping your chest up, as you slowly descend into a parallel squat. As you’re descending, make sure to keep tension on the band by trying to “rip” the floor apart with your feet. Driving your weight onto the outer portions of your feet like this will fire up those lateral glutes and prevent the knees from pinching inwards. Pause for a second at the bottom and then press back up, making sure to keep constant pressure on the band throughout the movement. Try 10-12 repetitions.

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Foam Rollers

As any great athlete or strength coach will tell you, it isn’t all about the training. The truth is, recovery from training is every bit as critical to your success as the actual training itself. Enter the foam roller: this odd looking piece of cylindrically shaped foam that has become the darling of the athletic training community over the past several years. Available in several different densities to accommodate athletes of all ages and abilities, the foam roller enables you to do self myofascial release on tight, restricted muscle groups. What exactly is self myofascial release you ask? It’s basically what people pay massage therapists big bucks to do, only you’re doing it on yourself with a foam tube that costs next to nothing! Okay, so maybe foam rolling can’t completely replace the hands of skilled manual therapist, but it is the next best thing for athletes suffering from muscular dysfunction due to overuse.

By simply positioning your body over the roller and moving in different ways, you can help increase blood flow to your muscles, restore lost range of motion and reduce, or even eliminate trigger points that are causing pain.

The most commonly tight areas that you can roll are the lateral quadriceps and iliotibial band (pictured), the glutes, the adductors and the lats. Rolling

is something that I recommend all my athletes do on a regular basis and although some may resist at first, before long they’re completely hooked.

Although you can pick up foam rollers in a variety of sporting goods stores, I’ve found the best selection and prices to be at www.performbetter.com.

Who says you need to commit to a pricey membership, or find the time to schlep over to the gym, just to get in shape for sports? You can have any one, or all of five of these terrific training tools for a fraction of the cost and none of the inconvenience. Plus, you can take satisfaction in the fact that you’ll be training in a way that’s much more conducive to your athletic goals than just hoisting around a bunch of weights at the gym. How’s that for gaining an edge on your competition?

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